GDR2 shows up on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 update history page

The past few days have seen a flurry of news hit our front page. The Lumia 925 was announced for T-Mobile and the Nokia Lumia 1020 was officially revealed to the citizens of earth. It’s a glorious device with 41 million pixels at your disposal. So let’s switch it up and give you guys some news about all your “old” devices, the ones you’re currently holding or in your pocket. GDR2 could be coming sooner than you think.

GDR2 is the next operating system update we’re looking forward to in the Windows Phone world. Followed by GDR3 and Blue. Microsoft has posted some new info on their Windows Phone 8 update history page, which happens to detail some history that hasn’t really happened for anyone yet. Windows Phone update 8.0.10327.77 (or 8.0.10328.78 depending on your phone model and mobile operator) will include the following:

Xbox Music

It's now easier to select, download, and pin music. Plus, music fans will see more accurate metadata (such as song and album information) and many other performance improvements.

FM radio

Listen to FM radio right from the Music+Videos hub. (Not available for all phones.)

Data Sense

Stay on top of your phone's data usage with Data Sense. You can set a limit based on your data plan, or just keep track of which apps use the most data. (Not all mobile operators offer Data Sense.)

Skype

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) apps like Lync and Skype now feature improved stability and performance.

Internet Explorer

Camera

Set your favorite Lens so it opens automatically when you press the camera button. (Not available for all phones.)

Other improvements

Includes many other improvements to Windows Phone.

These changes while small, should help alleviate and improve the experience on Windows Phone. Also, the fact that they’re listed on the Windows Phone 8 update history page reveals they might be coming sooner than we think.

Reader comments

GDR2 shows up on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 update history page

Then, if the GDR2 updates I see doesn't fix automatic restart itself, I will change mind to go back to Android. And the crucial thing is the 'other' files. Update app can make data application increases, if this section can't be accessed to removes unnecessary files, one a day the OS will make me to reset my device, oh my.

Don't see what's funny about me travelling the whole of Ireland. Its my job and i love it especially with the current weather we are having. Also don't see why that makes a good thing that your on Vodafone but whatever, if your happy to pay their tariffs, then good for you.

Well I've been to Donegal to Kerry and never had a dropped call in 15 years. Also its part of Meteors main advertising and there is such a thing as false advertising so I don't think I need to really verify that statement. You do realise Meteor/eMobile are owned by Eircom and that o2 share most of the mobile masts.

Please explain. 99.9% coverage and cheaper tariffs does not make a network crap or a poor peoples network and being on Meteor certainly has not had any effect on my life other than save me money on my contract. I think my friend you are the head case for believing the brand and being over charged at home and abroad.

I am still waiting for the resolve bug for Nokia Lumia series 820\920:
When you are in the area with a very poor signal, phone consumes battery too much. It can be about 20% battery life in an hour. After the mobile internet is disabled, the phone consumes about 1% or less.
This is what I am waiting so much.

Can someone kindly make the Facebook app better? There have been recent updates but all those are really outdated now. Some major overhaul needs to be done. Please keep the iOS Facebook app in mind. The best till date. Especially chat features. Very efficient and responsive. MS help us like Apple helps its users.

You cant satisfy some people, ever... On other hand I can already see Samsung people getting red faced seeing nokia's development in recent days, especially s3 n s4 users. They love wp8, but cant support it whole heartedly....

I wouldn't be so sour if they had actually gave a hint at least on what their progress is with the Other Storage.

It's been 8+ months, Joe.B said a fix is "coming". Few months of silence after that and still going. 820 users from day 1 have their phones rendered useless in 1-2months and have to deal with it being a dumbphone for half a year and going.
It's the most dumbest bug ever and such a waste of time using the 820, an equivalent to a phone 6-7 years ago that can do exactly the same thing -> Make phone calls / check mail / send messages / take low res photos.

How about deleting some of the crap applications you don't need anymore and also clearing your photo album? No storage is infinite. I can do pretty well with my 820 but of course I'd like to get 1Gb of free space from that "other storage".

Hope they fix the stupid Facebook Chat connection, it's been horrible for over a month now. Getting some messages and than sometimes getting non. Than i have to got the Facebook App to continue convo.
Even on the Windows 8 messaging hub it's terrible. Whenever i send a message to a Facebook contacts it will send it twice (even on Skype Desktop).
They seriously need to fix the Facebook chat connection.

These are all gimmicks!!! Bloated list of a few registry tweaks plus the FM radio. Now I know why they showed the roadmap of windows phone yesterday, to make us believe that they are working hard and to justify their simple tweaks in GDR2. Why do we need this or GDR3? Instead can't they just not waste their resources anymore and work on delivering Windows Phone 8.1 (Blue) earlier? No wonder they increased the support cycle time to 36 months, as for the first 12-18 months they did not deliver shit.
I wonder when MS is going to provide the rest of the OS? I know they are newer than some other OS in market and they were at least a couple of years behind. I think that's the reason they should work harder and faster to catch up. But their attitude is more like, ' since we were couple of years behind, we can always stay couple of years behind.'
Do windows phone users really matter to MS?

MSFT is working on all fronts (windows, office, Xbox, Windows Phone) and there obviously just so many people working there. Its fairly obvious that W8, Xbox and Office are products that they have priority over.

While fixes are always good, we need more additions to the OS! Been with WP from wp7 and it feels like there is nothing new other than custom ring tones and smaller live tiles. Oh and cut and paste, remember how huge that was! Seriously though, when will we see NEW features?

If they still haven't fixed bugs like other storage yet...i wouldn't hold my breath on "new features" like the much requested separate volume control feature. I miss so many notifications because I forget to turn the volume up, and I can't forget the days I nearly blow my ear drums out...those days are always great lol

most of these improvment are not important and don't touch the real needs of cunsumers. for me I'd really want full control over my files I want to make new folder move my files freely, also I want to save my bluetooth files in whatever folder I want
second I want a fast control buttons for wifi, bluetooth.. etc on my home screen with a full notification center just like those concepts we see over the internt
third a real multitaskin for example I want my youtube video to download while I'm reading my twitter
the have to move FAST

If you remember windows mobile 6 you would know what I'm talking about.. I'm really wondering how Microsoft downgrade its products while Android took advantage of it .. All these spec I talked about was in windows mobile 6 and now in android

i guess it depended on what phone you had.....A 6.5 device (touch pro 2 for example) with a custom rom to get rid of all the carrier/oem crap was awsome and smooth a silk. Microsoft made a great OS for the time but, it was fillex with OEM crap that screwed the phones up

We never have carrier issues its always open with us .. For ppl who said that its laggy if they develop it the way android did I think it would be great OS .. I need more control over my device!! I can't even customize my ringtones!!!!!

I'm sorry... not being ale to capture the moment of my nephew kissing a giraffe at the zoo was really not frustrating at all. My wife knowing how to hard reset her phone when Other Storage takes up 10+ GB s just ok. Not being able to download the Great Gatsby album before our trip to New York was a moment of joy. Having to go through and delete apps even when there are not enough to bring up the 'quick letter menu' (don't know the official name) was so mich more fun than playing Contre Jour so i deleted it. Not being able to use the functions my wife got the phone for at $500+ is really ok. I am over reacting. Sorry guys!

Other Storage 4GB
System 2GB
Essential apps (Whatsapp etc) installed
ZERO Games
Media all in SD.

Have less than 800MB left and can't even buy one major game.
Need to be careful with updates. etc etc.

My gf's 820 is a dumbphone now. That's just me btw. Some people are reporting Other Storage racking up at 8-10GB.

But again my 920 hardly noticed this problem after I turned off Autoupload to Skydrive. The other storage dramatically slowed down. But it still has 4-5GB in it and I can't get rid of it no matter what.

If you're so poor and angry, why don't you switch providers? Like maybe to T-Mobile perhaps? Unlimited data? $30/mo? Cheaper? No? Stop the immaturity, please. Anger lowers your IQ anyway, so it doesn't help to be angry all the time when trying to logic out situations.

ahh i hate that.. I've been getting spam from pizza hut, maida grill, insurance, ppi claims.. even automated phone calls! wth i've been ex-directory ever since i got my O2 contract. That was the first thing i asked for and in the past 2 months there has been a huge spike.. its like harrassment.. random messages at 3 am at night. Last one was 3 nights ago bloody annoying.

That's good.. As it would be useful for u, imo. How about sms..? A version of L920 has this too, but it's carrier locked. Meaning u have to use it w/ some chinese cellular provider for it to work. But Microsoft is the key here, it should come from them, so all OEMs would have access to such features. Huawei, HTC, Nokia, Samsung etc. If they have so many else to do, why not just open it up for devs and let them do their thing, right.? Back in my Android days I have Kaspersky Mobile Security for such features needed.

I really don't know either, no one knows actually. I really thought they would say something about it, but the only thing that was said by microsoft is the tweet from Joey Belfiore with the message that there will be a fix coming. But that was months ago...

This! That's so annoying 'cause I only have 300Mb memory left.. The others storage takes over 3Gb!! That everything goes to "media" but I have no idea what "media" it is since I have only 0,5Gb music, videos and pics. Even the memory sd card doesn't work so this phone is going to take some repair

Do you have album art? Are all the songs from one artist under that artist's name? Does your music just play when you click play, without protesting that the file type is unsupported, even though it is supported and it will work after clicking play again? Are you able to upload podcasts from the desktop sync app AND download podcasts OTA from the music store on the same phone? Do your podcasts synced from your desktop have album art?

If so, lots of the Xbox Music bugs have been fixed. If not, that sucks. They need to fix it!